A rise in raids and brothel closures in London's Olympic boroughs has been reported, although the Met has so far failed to find evidence of an increase in people trafficking before the Olympics. Photograph: Wang Lili/Xinhua Press/Corbis

Six people have been arrested by police in Leicester as part of an investigation into allegations of forced prostitution and people trafficking.

Four men aged between 19 and 47 and two women, aged 22 and 31, were detained by Leicestershire police during raids that were carried out at two addresses in the city after members of the public raised concerns.

Four women who were at the addresses in Lyme Road and New Parks Road were receiving support from specialist officers and helping police with their inquiries, according to a police spokesman.

Detective Inspector Simon Preston, the officer leading the investigation, said: "Today's arrests were a real success and I hope they reassure members of the public that we are committed to protecting those vulnerable members of our society and also targeting organised crime.

"Offences like this don't regularly occur in Leicester but that doesn't mean that we are any less dedicated to targeting those we are aware of.

"We have carried out two warrants like this in the past two months and hope it will act as a warning to anyone involved in such crimes."

He added: "It was as a result of their calls that we made the arrests and located the four women, who are now being spoken to and supported by specialist officers."

The Metropolitan police has said that its specialist SCD9 unit, which focuses on human exploitation and organised crime, has had significant success in terms of locating people who have been trafficked and forced into prostitution although the force has not seen any evidence of an increase in trafficking of sex workers so far in Olympic host boroughs.